D-Day – Portsmouth & Normandy
About the tour: D-Day – Portsmouth & Normandy
- Campaign: World War 2 (WW2)
- Campaign Dates Covered: Jun 1944 - Aug 1944 (What's this?)
This tour will cover the following key events
- Operation Overlord - 6 June 1944Commonly know as the D-Day Landings, Operation Overlord saw the successful invasion of the German occupied Western Europe druing WW2. The operation involed Allied troops landing on five beaches in Normandy and launching a surprise attack on the Germans.
- Operation Epsom - 28 June 1944The purpose of the operation was to outwit the Germans and take control of the occupied city of Caen. Despite two days worth of fighting, in June 1944, securing the British a position on the River Odon, a powerful German counter attack saw the British withdraw.
- Battle of Caen - 7 July 1944The battle of Caen saw the Anglo-Canadian troops attack the Germans in another attempt to gain control over the city of Caen. After an air strike and fierce battles faught over two days, on July the 9th Caen was in Allied hands.
- Operation Goodwood - 18 July 1944Often referred to as the largest tank battle in British history, the battle saw the Allied forces attempt to capture the rest of Caen. When the batte ended, Caen was free from German control but was mostly left in ruins.
- Operation Bluecoat - 30 July 1944Part of the offensive in the Battle of Normandy, Operation Bluecoat was launched in the attempt to secure the road of Vire Junction and Mont Pincon.
- Operation Totalise - 8 August 1944The operation saw Allied troops attempt to break through German defences to the south of Caen. The plan was to lure the German army into Falaise where the Allied forces could trap and attack them.
- Battle of Falaise Pocket - 12 August 1944 –This battle was the decisive part of the Battle of Normandy. Falaise has gone down in history for being known as th place where a complete German army was wiped out during WW2. The Canadian, Polish, British and American armies trapped the Germany army in Falaise and launched a successful attack.
Tour Introduction
On this tour we visit some of the key locations involved in the day that changed the course of World War 2. The 6th of June 1944 saw the Allied landings on the Normandy beaches and a battle that would be remembered forever. We spend time in Portsmouth visiting Southwick House, where discussions were held for the planning of the D-Day Landings, before we head to Normandy. In Normandy we make a number of trips to the D-Day battlefield sites, we see where the American soldiers landed at Omaha Beach and Utah Beach and the iconic Pegasus Bridge. We see many war cemeteries and superb museums, such as the Overlord Museum and the Merville Battery Museum. We also get a ride in a Dakota aircraft simulator! Making this an in-depth, D-Day experience.
Tour Includes
- 6 nights hotel with breakfast
- Specialist Battlefield Guide
- Convenient local joining points
- Travel by Silver Service coach
We offer flexible payment options
Once you have booked your battlefield tour either online, or by telephone (), you have the flexibility of how you pay off the remainder of your balance. You can -
- Use our balance payment facility online to make and track your card payments. You can pay as much as you want up until your final due date or pay it all, the choice is yours.
- Send payments via online banking.
- Send payments via cheque.
- Call us and make a card payment, either a small amount or as lump sum until your final due date.
Our contact and online banking payment details will be on your confirmation invoice to remind you of your choices.
Tour Itinerary
For customers living outside of the UK, if you want to make a booking you will need to provide a UK postcode on our online booking system. If you are not able to provide a relevant UK postcode then you can enter the postcode for London Victoria Coach Station – SW1W 9TP. You should then be able to proceed to complete your booking.
If you do encounter a problem then you can speak to one of our friendly advisors who will be happy to help.
Please Note : After completing your booking, a member of our Customer Service team will be in touch to make sure everything is okay.
Either e-mail our Reservations Department or call on 01709 830 333 and they will check to see whether you can visit a particular cemetery on any of our Battlefield Tours, if we are not able to fit it into our itinerary then you could take some time out of the tour and do this independently by taxi or public transport.
Day 1 - Tangmere Aviation Museum
Local departure by coach or Door-to Door service then travel to Kent where you meet your tour coach and specialist guide. Our tour begins at Tangmere Aviation Museum in West Sussex from where the 2nd Tactical Force flew into Normandy on D-day. After we continue to Portsmouth for an overnight stay.
Key Visits
- Tangmere Aviation Museum
Day 2 - D-Day sites, Southwick House
This morning we visit the Portsmouth Memorial, which commemorates Naval personnel who fell on D-Day and then go to Southwick House* (access subject to approval by the MOD) where the Allied Commanders met to discuss plans for D-Day. Here we see the D-Day wall map, then take an afternoon ferry to Normandy and onto our hotel in Caen for a five-night stay.
Included meals: Breakfast
Key Visits
- Portsmouth Memorial
- Southwick House
Day 3 - The Airborne Story
We focus on the actions in the early hours of D-Day, visiting Pegasus Bridge and its museum and then the Drop and Landing Zones. We continue to the Airborne graves at Ranville, the important Breville Gap and then the superb Merville Battery Museum
Included meals: Breakfast
Ranville War Cemetery (2)
Key Visits
- Ranville War Cemetery
- Pegasus Bridge
Day 4 - America's D-Day
Today we look at the American Airborne story, starting at the Dead Man’s Corner Museum; an original building which featured in the D-Day story, it has an unrivalled collection of Airborne memorabilia including items belonging to the ‘Band of Brothers’ including Dick Winters. We then travel through the area where 82nd and 101st Airborne landed and see the Iron Mike Memorial at La Fiere. We spend an extended lunch period in St. Mere Eglise, having time to visit the Museum, before travelling out to Utah Beach to begin our look at the seaborne landings, seeing the new Higgins Boat Memorial.
Included meals: Breakfast
Iron Mike Memorial (4)
Key Visits
- Utah Beach
- Iron Mike Memorial
- St. Mere Eglise
Day 5 - Britain's D-Day
We continue with the D-Day story today in the British sector beginning with the story of Sword Beach seeing the Piper Bill Millin memorial, as well as the British D-Day graves at Hermanville War Cemetery before travelling to the Hillman Bunker site where the Suffolk Regiment fought on 6th June. We then travel into the Juno Beach area and have lunch at Courseulles, later seeing where the Canadians landed as well as looking at 1Charlie – a Churchill AVRE that was part of the D-Day story but which remained buried until the 1970s. On Gold Beach we see where Stan Hollis landed and look at the story of this D-Day Victoria Cross winner, and then see Britain’s deadliest D-Day beach at Asnelles before looking at the Mulberry Harbour – the artificial port – in Arromanches.
Included meals: Breakfast
Juno Beach (6)
Key Visits
- Juno Beach
- Sword Beach
- D-day in Normandy: Mulberry harbour in Arromanches.
- Arromanches
- Hermanville War Cemetery
- Hillman Bunker Site
Day 6 - Bayeux to Pointe du Hoc
This morning we begin at Bayeux seeing the War Cemetery and Memorial to the Missing before going to Longues sur Mer to the gun battery site that threatened the British landings: it is one of the few where the guns still remain and was used in the filming of the Longest Day. After lunch in Port en Bessin, where the Pipeline Under The Ocean (PLUTO) came in, we visit the Normandy American Cemetery before visiting the massive Overlord Museum with its tanks and life-size recreations of D-Day. We then travel down on to Omaha Beach looking at the real story of Saving Private Ryan. We end the day at Pointe du Hoc where the Rangers assaulted this gun battery site which threatened the landings on Omaha.
Included meals: Breakfast
Omaha Beach (8)
Key Visits
- Omaha Beach
- Longues sur Mer
- Port en Bessin
- Normandy American Cemetery
- Bayeux War Cemetery
- Bayeux Memorial
- Pointe Du Hoc
Day 7
Return home.
Included meals: Breakfast
1 x lunch/museum package available whilst on tour approx. cost €40
Specialist Battlefield Guides
All of Leger’s battlefield tours are accompanied by specialist guides. Their individual in-depth knowledge of warfare will be informative, as well as enhance your overall experience, as they recreate a fascinating perception of the history and factual events of each battle. Discover the actual catalysts for war, the strategies employed and the final, inevitable outcomes, as well as experiencing the emotional human side of the front line.
Please note: On certain tours, you may get tour guides other that the ones listed below.
Hotel
If you prefer, then you can join the tour at the hotel. To do this, we will require a copy of your passport for identification purposes and you must advise us at the time of booking.
No reduction will be given if you should choose to do this.
All hotel rooms benefit from private bathroom facilities.
Some hotels have tea and coffee making facilities. Please check the tour pages for more information or call our Customer Service Department on 01709 830333
Most hotels have a lift, please call our Customer Service Department on 01709 830333 for more information.
Some hotels have ground floor rooms. Please email for information on individual hotels or call our Customer Service Department on 01709 830333.
Your hotels will supply towels in your room.
We are unable to guarantee that the hotel will be able to meet your dietary requirements. We find that the majority of European countries do not generally cater for vegetarians and that the meal supplied may well be what everyone else is having minus the meat.
We will of course endeavour to arrange for a vegetarian meal at the hotel. We do however suggest that you advise us of your dietary requests at the time of booking and recommend that you speak to the receptionist on arrival with regard to your request.
You will stay for one night at the 3-star Ibis Portsmouth in the centre of the city. You will then stay for five nights at the 2-star Carline Caen Nord, the hotel has a bar, restaurant and lift.
Travel Options
Departure times given for each region are approximate. Please check your travel documents to confirm the actual timings.
Front row seats can be reserved for £14pp (up to 6 days duration), £22pp (7 & 8 days duration) and £25pp (9 days duration and over) on all European tours. In addition to this seats on the second row can be reserved for £7pp (up to 6 days duration), £14pp (7 & 8 days duration) and £15pp (9 days duration and over). This offer is only available for bookings of two or four persons on the front row and is subject to availability. Guaranteed front/second row seats cannot be reserved on feeder journeys to/from the U.K. port. Children under 15 years cannot occupy a front row seat due to French Law. Central view seats are free.
Please note: On some coaches the legroom on front seats may be slightly less than that available on other seats due to the presence of a modesty board in front.
If your tour is cancelled for any reason and front/second row seats are not available on your new tour you will be refunded the supplement. No other compensation will be payable.
Alternatively, we can take seating requests on your booking. However, requests are not guaranteed. All seat numbers are confirmed on travel documents approximately 7-10 days prior to departure.
We guarantee that all passengers on the same booking will be seated together on the main tour coach. Seats on the transfer coaches to and from the U.K. port are not allocated.
Hot and cold drinks are served on the main tour coaches. Prices are approximately £1 or 1.25 Euro per drink. Prices will be confirmed by the driver. Drinks may also be served on the transfer coaches but this is not guaranteed.
Transfer vehicles are routed approximately 2-3 weeks before departure and will depend on where passengers are booked to travel from on any particular date as to which route is taken. If you require further detailed information regarding the route to the port you can contact our Customer Service Department on 01709 830333 two weeks before you are due to travel.
With regard to the route taken by the main tour coach, this is determined by the driver.
All main tour coaches have on-board toilets. Transfer vehicles to and from the U.K. port may not have on-board toilets. When non-British coaches are used on transfers and tours (air holidays only) an on-board toilet may not be available. However, comfort stops will be made during long journeys.
All coaches feature air-conditioning. Should the air-conditioning system break down for a period exceeding 12 hours, compensation will be awarded up to a maximum of £10 per fare-paying passenger per tour.
Depending on the location of your pickup point, you may be picked up by coach (not necessarily the on you are touring on), minibus, taxi, National Express or Megabus service. You may then be taken to another centralised pickup location or service station. We operate a passenger interchange at Stop 24 Services, where you will meet the tour coach you are holidaying on and then continue on with your outbound journey. Similarly, on the way home, you may also change transfer vehicles at another location, to take you to your final drop off point.
One medium sized suitcase per person, which should weigh no more than 20kg when full. We may refuse to carry larger or heavier cases. Hand luggage can be stored in the overhead racks aboard the coach.
It could be either - This will be confirmed in your travel documents.
When it comes to getting to the Battlefields, Leger Holidays make it easy, with a selection of travel options for you choose from.
Travel Extras
With an overnight stay or a Door-to-Door pick up, our travel extras allow you to create a travel experience to suit your needs...
Door-to-Door service
+ Find out moreOn Battlefield tours of 7 days’ duration or more, you don’t even have to think about getting to your local joining point. If you live within 20 miles of one of our free joining points we’ll pick you up from your home and take you to meet your transfer vehicle, then return you back home at the end of your holiday. The cost is just £30 per booking each way for up to four people per booking.
If you live a little further afield, you can also take advantage of this convenient option for an additional charge – please enquire at the time of booking.
